Strands of life: Videos from the 2011 Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau
Each year, young researchers from all over the world meet with Nobel prizewinners on the German island of Lindau. We capture their conversations on camera.
In 2011, scientists from over 70 countries gathered to discuss the world's greatest health challenges and how to tackle them. The young researchers we follow in these films are working on malaria, cancer, viruses and more. But they are also learning how to be scientists; how to write grant applications, how to collaborate with other research groups, and how to choose a career path. See what advice the laureates offer — and what questions the laureates have for them.
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Trailer: Strands of life
Unlike other scientific conferences, the scope of the annual Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau is very broad. The participants enjoy exchanging ideas across disciplines and often they find surprising connections. We followed a diverse bunch of young researchers as they met with Nobel laureates. By the end of the meeting, several collaborations were in the pipeline! This trailer gives you a flavour of the films that follow.
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The virus catchers with Harald zur Hausen
Young researchers Jan Gralton and Sven-Eric Schelhorn are fascinated by the minute world of viruses. They have plenty of questions for Harald zur Hausen who won a Nobel Prize for proving that human papillomaviruses (HPV) can cause cervical cancer. All three are worried by public distrust of the HPV vaccine, which was made possible by zur Hausen's work.
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Combating cancer with Edmond Fischer
Nobel Laureate Eddie Fischer was born in Shanghai in 1920. Since then, China has emerged as an economic superpower. Now it's becoming a scientific heavyweight too. Tong Qing belongs to the newest generation of Chinese scientists. She decided to study cancer after a family friend became ill with breast cancer. In this film, she tells Fischer about life and research in China today.
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Bench or bedside? with Ferid Murad
Camelia-Lucia Cimpianu is trying to decide between a career as a researcher or a practising doctor. In this film, she seeks advice from Nobel Laureate Ferid Murad who faced the same dilemma as a medical student in the 1960s. Murad chose the bench, and he subsequently discovered that a gas called nitric oxide (NO) acts as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system. It turns out that NO plays a role in many diseases — and possibly in the head trauma cases that Camelia studies.
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A life in science with Elizabeth Blackburn
Elizabeth Blackburn grew up in Hobart on the Australian island of Tasmania. It was a long journey from there to a Nobel prize and the lab she runs at the University of California in San Francisco. Malaria researcher Clare Smith is also a Hobart girl, and she's trying to decide whether to follow in Blackburn's footsteps and move overseas after she finishes her PhD. Karina Zillner is from Germany. Like Clare, she's in the final stages of a PhD. She's developed a method for analysing sections of repetitive DNA. Karina hopes her technique might be used in Blackburn's lab, where they study telomeres — repetitive sections of DNA that protect the ends of chromosomes.
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Hungry for knowledge with Oliver Smithies
Oliver Smithies is a toolmaker. He shared the Nobel prize for discoveries that led to the development of knockout mice. Diego Bohórquez uses mouse models to understand how our gut regulates appetite. He has wanted to meet Smithies ever since he moved from his native Ecuador to Duke University in the United States. When the two meet in Lindau they have an instant rapport and soon they're sharing ideas about their research projects and talking about what makes a successful scientific collaboration.
